Feiran Jiang

Hydrophilic Cu9S5 Nanocrystals: A Photothermal Agent with a 25.7% Heat Conversion Efficiency for Photothermal Ablation of Cancer Cells in Vivo

Photothermal ablation (PTA) therapy has a great potential to revolutionize conventional therapeutic approaches for cancers, but it has been limited by difficulties in obtaining biocompatible photothermal agents that have low cost, small size (<100 nm), and high photothermal conversion efficiency. Herein, we have developed hydrophilic plate-like Cu(9)S(5) nanocrystals (NCs, a mean size of ∼70 nm × 13 nm) as a new photothermal agent, which are synthesized by combining a thermal decomposition and ligand exchange route. The aqueous dispersion of as-synthesized Cu(9)S(5) NCs exhibits an enhanced absorption (e.g., ∼1.2 × 10(9) M(-1) cm(-1) at 980 nm) with the increase of wavelength in near-infrared (NIR) region, which should be attributed to localized surface plasmon resonances (SPR) arising from p-type carriers. The exposure of the aqueous dispersion of Cu(9)S(5) NCs (40 ppm) to 980 nm laser with a power density of 0.51 W/cm(2) can elevate its temperature by 15.1 °C in 7 min; a 980 nm laser heat conversion efficiency reaches as high as 25.7%, which is higher than that of the as-synthesized Au nanorods (23.7% from 980 nm laser) and the recently reported Cu(2-x)Se NCs (22% from 808 nm laser). Importantly, under the irradiation of 980 nm laser with the conservative and safe power density over a short period (∼10 min), cancer cells in vivo can be efficiently killed by the photothermal effects of the Cu(9)S(5) NCs. The present finding demonstrates the promising application of the Cu(9)S(5) NCs as an ideal photothermal agent in the PTA of in vivo tumor tissues.

Hydrophilic molybdenum oxide nanomaterials with controlled morphology and strong plasmonic absorption for photothermal ablation of cancer cells.

The molybdenum oxide nanosheets have shown strong localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) absorption in the near-infrared (NIR) region. However, the long alky chains of ligands made them hydrophobic and less biocompatible. To meet the requirements of molybdenum based nanomaterials for use as a future photothermal therapy, a simple hydrothermal route has been developed for hydrophilic molybdenum oxide nanospheres and nanoribbons using a molybdenum precursor and poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). First, molybdenum oxide nanomaterials prepared in the presence of PEG exhibit strong localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) absorption in near-infrared (NIR) region, compared with that of no PEG. Second, elevation of synthetic temperature leads to a gradual transformation of molybdenum oxide nanospheres into nanoribbons, entailing the evolution of an intense LSPR absorption in the NIR region. Third, as-prepared molybdenum oxide nanomaterials coated with PEG possess a hydrophilic property and thus can be directly used for biological applications without additional post treatments. Moreover, molybdenum oxide nanoribbons as a model of photothermal materials can efficiently convert the 980 nm wavelength laser energy into heat energy, and this localized hyperthermia produces the effective thermal ablation of cancer cells, meaning a potential photothermal material.

Effect of temperature on the performance of ultrafine MnO2 nanobelt supercapacitors

We have reported a facile, template-free and effective electrochemical method to grow MnO2 ultrafine nanobelts on Ni foam. Electrochemical measurements showed that the MnO2 nanobelt electrode exhibited an enhanced specific capacitance of 509 F g−1 at 200 mA g−1 at 50 °C. More importantly, the specific capacitance of the MnO2 nanobelt electrode nearly has 91.3% retention after 5000 cycles with repeated heating and cooling in the temperature range of 0 to 50 °C, showing good high temperature-resistive long-term cycle stability.

One-pot synthesis of large-scaled Janus Ag–Ag2S nanoparticles and their photocatalytic properties

We report a facile, one-pot route based on thermal decomposition of a single molecular precursor for preparing spherical, eggplant-shaped Janus Ag–Ag2S nanoparticles; these Ag–Ag2S Janus-coupled P25 TiO2 composites show a higher photocatalytic efficiency than those of the Ag2S NPs coupled P25 TiO2 composites and pure P25 TiO2.